With expectations that full ownership of NBCUniversal will immediately add to Comcast's earnings as rising free cash flow simultaneously helps to pay back acquisition financing, the transaction can be seen as one of the biggest M&A coups since the financial crisis.

"Comcast is paying essentially the equivalent to what it paid for half of the asset two years ago, despite 24 months of operational turnaround," Jessica Reif Cohen, an analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, wrote in a note to clients. "We believe the asset is worth more, and there is clearly value in owning 100% of an improving business," added Cohen, who characterized Comcast's acquisition as a "steal."

To understand why Comcast and its chairman and CEO, Brian Roberts, got a better deal, simply follow the money. Meanwhile, the benefits of NBCUniversal to Comcast may track improvements to the overall economy and more specific turnaround strategies implemented since the joint venture was first launched.

In the two separate transactions to form and then take full control of the NBCUniversal joint venture, Comcast is shelling out a grand total of about $18.5 billion in cash to General Electric. For its part, GE is poised to receive only about $12.7 billion in immediate net cash, given a $5.8 billion payment made to Vivendi in 2009 for the company's French media conglomerate's 20% stake in NBCUniversal.

To get to NBCUniversal's total valuation of about $39.1 billion, Comcast didn't just put up cash. It also threw in a mélange of assets and financial commitments that softened the price tag.

For instance, when announcing the first leg of the NBCUniversal deal in 2009, Comcast's total $13.75 billion payment to General Electric consisted mostly of cable assets it contributed to the venture. In that part of the deal, Comcast forked over just $6.5 billion in cash and another $7.25 billion in assets -- cable channels like E!, Versus and the Golf Channel, in addition to regional sports networks -- for a controlling 51% stake in NBCUniversal.

Given GE's payment to Vivendi in the first leg of the deal, the industrial conglomerate received less than $1 billion in net cash for ceding the reins to NBCUniversal to Comcast.